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Urgent Care News: Reactions To Soy Allergy

There has been a great deal of controversy surrounding soy products and foods with soy. The most common argument against soy is that the isoflavones can bind to estrogen receptors and affect thyroid hormones. There have also been debates about soy increasing risks of certain cancers, but evidence of that is not conclusive. Others simply shouldn’t consume soy, because they’ve developed an allergy. How do you know if you have a soy allergy? First Med Urgent Care lists the common symptoms for your knowledge, today.

Luckily, a soy allergy for most people isn’t serious, but can be very uncomfortable. If you have an allergy to soy it will most likely follow the same pattern as any other food allergy in that symptoms will usually appear within a few minutes up to a few hours after eating foods with the allergen. The following are documented signs that you may have a soy allergy:

Tingling in the mouth

Hives or itchy skin

Swelling of lips, face, tongue, throat, or other body parts

Wheezing, runny nose, or difficulty breathing

Abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting

Skin redness

Our urgent care staff cautions you to pay attention to the following, more extreme, signs that you are having a severe allergic reaction (also known as anaphylaxis):

Difficulty breathing due to throat swelling

Shock, with severe drop in blood pressure

Rapid pulse

Dizziness, lightheadedness, or loss of consciousness

If possible seek out urgent care treatment before things get out of control with your allergy, but if the symptoms listed in the anaphylaxis section above happen to you then you need to skip straight to emergency treatment!

Allergies are just one of the many general service specialities offered by First Med Urgent Care. Should you have a non-life threatening allergic reaction, please feel free to come see our urgent care medical staff about that! We’re open 7 days per week from 8am to 7:30pm and walk-ins are welcome!

Measles In The United States

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention measles has been eliminated from the United States as of the year 2000. With vaccinations, the disease is able to be kept at bay. Unfortunately, not everyone is strict about getting vaccinated and although there isn’t a epidemic present with this disease, doesn’t mean that you are immune from contracting it.

Every year, unvaccinated people choose to travel to other countries where the measles is still an ongoing issue. Some outbreaks may occur as a result of unvaccinated visitors coming into the United States. From January 1, 2015 to January 2, 2016, 189 people from 24 states and the District of Columbia were reported to have measles.

Here are the symptoms of measles to watch out for:

Fever

Runny nose

Cough

Red eyes

Sore throat

Rash spreading over body

Along with the symptoms, it is possible to experience complications such as pneumonia, ear infections and/or diarrhea.

Measles is spread through coughing and sneezing, so be courteous and cautious. Always cover your cough or sneeze with your arm. The best prevention, of course, would be to get vaccinated so that you can protect yourself from the disease! The vaccine is called Measles, Mumps, and Rubella or “MMR” and must be given in two different doses.

If you are in need of the MMR vaccine, please check with your local First Med Urgent Care.

First Med Urgent Care is a walk-in urgent care medical clinic that provides medical treatment to individuals, families and employers. We are open 7 days a week 8:00am – 7:30pm. No appointment is necessary to enjoy our convenient medical care, just walk in and receive prompt attention.

Urgent Care News: What to look out for

We, at First Med Urgent Care, say it’s fall for sure! The leaves are orange, the air is crisp and for many of you that means allergies have also flared up. Perhaps you’ve already been diagnosed with fall allergies at First Med Urgent Care or perhaps you just woke up and noticed something was different this fall. Have you ever wondered why fall allergies bother so many people? First Med Urgent Care has found that the three most common fall allergy triggers are Ragweed, mold and dust mites. Listed here is a little more information about each of these triggers.

1.) Ragweed: Just like spring flowers, this bothersome pollen gets released into the air on warm days and into cool nights starting in August. The wind-traveling pollen can reach people hundreds of miles away and stick around well into October.

2.) Mold: It could be from damp areas in your house or even from mold spores growing outside in piles of damp leaves, corners of the house where water puddles or mushy spots in your grass. Just being around this can cause an uproar of allergies.

3.) Dust mites: When you turn on your heater for the first time this fall you may notice a funny smell. That “funny smell” is because dust has accumulated on either the heating elements or the heat exchanger. Before you know it those dust mites are whirling around your house and causing allergic reactions.

Not all allergy issues are urgent care worthy, but if you feel you need something stronger than over the counter medications to help you with your allergies, don’t hesitate to visit an urgent care near you. Perhaps now you can be better equipped to deal with those pesky allergies with your new knowledge of what the fall allergy symptoms are and how they can sometimes be triggered by different things around you. Since you certainly can’t stop living life or stay indoors just to avoid the allergens, you just have to be careful.

First Med Urgent Care: Protecting Families

The peak flu season is fast approaching here in Oklahoma and First Med Urgent Care wanted to take a little time to focus on the attack of the flu season from 2014, because it’s the only data to give us an idea of the serious nature of this illness. To gather the most up to date information our urgent care sought out information provided by The Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH). As of October 9, 2014, OSDH began producing a weekly report, and updated the influenza statistics.

What was found was that, for the 2014-2015 season there were 2,299 documented, cumulative hospitalizations and/or deaths since September 28, 2014. The cumulative death count for the flu was ranked as 114. These are startling numbers considering that they came only from Oklahoma. It’s important for urgent care patients to understand that residents fall ill with the flu quite easily. When you or your family member suffers from the flu there are various symptoms to keep an eye out for as the flu can be very contagious! These are the most common flu symptoms:

Fever

Chills

Body aches

Cough

Sore throat

Runny or stuffy nose

Headaches

Fatigue

It’s also important for urgent care patients to know that the flu can lead to other health related issues such as upper respiratory infections. While visiting an urgent care facility for treatment after the fact is always an option, First Med Urgent Care recommends taking preventative measures by getting your flu shots early. Don’t wait for the attack of the flu season to get to you. Protect you and your family members, today.

Get your flu vaccinations at First Med Urgent Care. We are a walk-in urgent care medical clinic that provides medical treatment to individuals, families and employers. We are open 7 days a week 8:00am – 7:30pm. No appointment is necessary.

First Med Urgent Care: Information Station

Spring is full blown by this time, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t subject to getting sick. First Med Urgent Care staff see this sort of thing a lot. You’ve likely had the unfortunate experience of a sore throat, yourself, no matter the season. It’s inevitable that a sore throat will make you feel utterly miserable. Some people may not feel the need to visit an urgent care doctor for a sore throat, however; there are many different reasons you can get a sore throat. It is difficult to know which sore throat is worse than the next, without getting tested. The most common two reasons people get sore throats are because of a common cold or strep throat.

As you can imagine, a sore throat caused by a common cold is the least intense version of the two mentioned. Research tells us that usually, the sore throat is caused by a virus when it is associated with the common cold. Many patients visit our urgent care to get a check-up and generally speaking a sore throat from a common cold comes on in the beginning stages and goes away after a few days. Following the sore throat is the onset of the other common cold symptoms such as; runny nose, sneezing and coughing.

Strep throat causes a similar feeling sore throat, but differs in that it is made of streptococcus bacteria. The bacteria from this type of sore throat can be passed from person to person through saliva. As you may or may not already know, strep throat has been known to cause more severe illnesses. This is the reason why it is important to have an urgent care doctor run a strep test on you.

It would be easier if there were a simple way to tell the difference between the sore throat symptoms connected with the common cold and strep throat, but the truth is that the symptoms of a cold and strep throat can be very similar. So, if you aren’t sure is your sore throat is “urgent care worthy” then perhaps you should visit your urgent care provider anyway. It is always best to be on the safe side.